Summary: The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

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Rebecca Skloot’s novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks illustrates the delicate balance of the innovative progression of science and society versus the consequences of those who stumble from this progress. This book centrally focuses on the Henrietta Lacks whose biological samples extracted during cancer treatment and in an autopsy after her subsequent death, with no consent at John Hopkins University Hospital that leads to their discovery of HeLa immortal cells. (“The Birth of HeLa Cells” Skloot. 2010. Kindle eBook Edition) This vital discovery leads to the vaccine to eliminate polio and the mass production of HeLa cells that yielded millions of dollars in the medical industry in the creation of pharmaceuticals (“The HeLa Factory” Skloot. 2010. Kindle eBook edition)
Henrietta Lacks’ family, however, remains ignorant of HeLa cells until long after her death in 1951 and still are without compensation. (“Its Alive” and “ Turner Station” Skloot. 2010. Kindle eBook Edition) These series of events set a precedence for …show more content…
The struggle of personal rights and population rights is seen within the novel but first the fundamental understanding of Ethics is needed to grasp how monumental Henrietta’s story within Skloot’s book presents this debate.Especially relevant to the terms autonomy and beneficence. According to the University Of California School of Medicine, Autonomy is “ Autonomy is the “personal rule of the self that is free from both controlling interferences by others and from personal limitations that prevent meaningful choice.” Autonomous individuals act intentionally, with understanding, and without controlling influences.” (Pantilat. 2008. Fast Facts Autonomy vs. Beneficence. University of California School of Medicine) Whereas, with beneficence its specific actions that are for the benefit of
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The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Summary

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, describes an untold story about a patient who had a huge contribution towards cancer research around the 1950s. The name of the patient was Henrietta Lacks. She was the creator of HeLa cells. Based on Skloot’s curiousness about HeLa cells and where they came from, she further investigated multiple findings that related to racial issues and medicine. From Skloot’s research, she argues that there was no consent on the procedure of Henrietta Lacks…

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Henrietta was only an innocent person diagnosed with cancer. She died at an early age and left her family alone and without them knowing doctors took samples of her cells and found ways to test them in different ways. Science journalist Rebecca Skloot spent eleven years researching and writing “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, the untold story of the woman who innocently saved countless lives with cancer cells taken from her body at a medical…

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Yes, the author takes a position on the ethics of Henrietta Lacks’ case because throughout the whole article she even explained herself and also, shared her feelings about what they did to Henrietta sounded wrong taking advantage of her like that. Paragraph 7 states that is the purpose of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta and her family never had an opportunity to state yes or no to how the cells from her tumor were utilized. They deserved that data and the chance to settle on an educated…

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throughout the reoccurring theme in story of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Within the novel, Rebecca Skloot shows how Henrietta’s family was robbed from the information given to the scientific world. Henrietta was only ever seen for her cells. Never was she, personally, recognized for the contribution her cells made to the evolution of scientific research. For years, no one even knew her name. Making Henrietta Lacks an abstraction. Henrietta deserved to be seen as an individual, not as an…

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topics and she has appeared in New York Times Magazine and Oprah Magazine. She is most well known for her best seller book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It describes the life of an African American women named Henrietta Lacks and her family who were unknowingly used as one of the most important tools to medicine. It all started in 1951 at John Hopkins when Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Unknowingly her cells were used in many science experiments that would lead to development…

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Henrietta Lacks is a common name in the field of science and it has influenced many lives yet no one seems to know her. However, the publication of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot in 2010 brings to light the impact of Henrietta’s life and death. Skloot is a famous science writer and author who specialize in medicine and science (Derse 51). Her bestselling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks talks about a woman unintended contribution to the field of science. Henrietta…

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experimented on her cause she was black" (Skloot 52/53). During the 20th century, many doctors treated African-Americans wrongly in order to benefit and gain more knowledge about human life, disease, and cells. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a book about the discovery of HeLa cells from a girl named Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta was a poor, uneducated, black woman living in Baltimore, Maryland. The author, Rebecca Skloot started learning about HeLa cells when she was young and was curious to learn more…

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up in the equation and that it is okay to just take advantage of them. Throughout the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, there are many times the Lacks family is seen as an abstraction in certain situations due to the color of their skin or how much money they have; however, there a some consequences for people who treat them that way. At the beginning of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a quote by Wiesel claims, “We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see every…

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to make user incidents that happened in the late 1940s to do not longer happened.They are more wrong people that take advantage of people, like what to Henrietta Lacks, vulnerable person who was taken advantage In source 6, The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, wasn’t given informed consent when her cells were taken her. Lacks was one exploited person by the medical community the same that after she died, the scientist “published the results of their research in Science: in the…

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